Chapter 10: Blood Stains

'Renji!' Kuchiki Rukia was yelling at her childhood friend, asleep on Urahara's roof.

'What!' the red head sat up and almost slipped off the edge, grasping ahold of some tiles seconds before he would've fallen.

Rukia glared at him from below, 'If Kira Izuru were here, I'd say it'd be like déjà vu,' she snapped, referring to when Renji had slept in a tree on the night before their first day at the Shino Academy. She'd found him just as he fell out of the tree and onto the gravestone of Izuru's parents, startling the young man praying there.

'Shut up,' he grumbled as he jumped down, then, glaring at her, 'What do you want?'

She sighed, raising her phone, 'Captain Ukitake called. He said you and Matsumoto need to return to the Soul Society immediately,' when Renji just stared at her, her anger returned and she began shouting again, 'Immediately! Go and find Matsumoto and go! Hurry!'

The petite shinigami was concerned that Ukitake would think she hadn't passed on the message fast enough if she didn't get them going.

'Okay!' Renji removed his gigai, leaving it inside the store, and then locked up with the spare keys he had, before placing them in the 'secret spot'. Urahara and his loyal followers were out – buying juice.

'Let's go,' Rukia, who wasn't in a gigai, grabbed ahold of Renji's shihakusho and dragged him away.

'Lieutenant Matsumoto!' Renji cringed at his friend's loud shout. She really did have volume, no matter how small she appeared.

'Yes?' Rangiku popped her head out the door, glancing at the pair.

'You and Renji have to get back to the Soul Society,' Rukia had apparently forgotten that she was speaking to her superiors, 'Now!'

'What? It's only been a week since the Captain left, I still wanted to do more shopp-,' the death glare that the older women received was powerful enough to have her immediately remove her gigai and call her goodbye to Orihime.

The apartment's owner appeared at the door as they took a few steps away, 'Bye Rangiku! Goodbye Renji,' then she looked at the frustrated Rukia, 'See you at school Rukia,'

'School?' Rukia had completely forgotten that the holidays were up and she'd be going back to Karakura High School with Ichigo in a day or two.

'Yep!' Orihime waved the mixing spoon at them and then shut the door.

The other three wasted no time in using shunpo to get to the field.

Toshiro waited as patiently as possible in the area he'd been told the Senkaimon would open in. Along with Ukitake, he'd managed to talk the other captains into letting the two Lieutenants stay in the World of the Living for a week, but, since nothing else had happened, they were being recalled by order of Head Captain Yamamoto.

There was a slight swishing sound and he turned to watch the gate open. Two hell butterflies flew out and then the two shinigami appeared.

'Captain!' Matsumoto was strangely serious, 'Why have we been called back?'

The white haired captain looked at her, 'Since the reiatsu didn't show up again, you were recalled. I've got orders to send you immediately to south Rukongai to fight the adjuchas there,'

'There was two right?' Renji was already facing south, 'Haven't they been defeated yet?'

'There's still two. They're weak but it's taking a lot to bring them down,' Toshiro nodded, 'Now go!'

The two standing before him nodded and used shunpo to vanish. Frown deeper than usual, Toshiro tried to work out why something felt wrong.

About fifteen minutes later, a messenger butterfly flew over to him.

Turquoise eyes widened and he turned to stare in the direction the Lieutenants had gone.

Matsumoto!

Perched high in the treetops, Rangiku scanned the destruction below her, glancing across at Renji. The red headed Lieutenant looked at her and nodded once. Then the pair leapt from the trees and onto the ground, away from the destroyed buildings.

Then she let her reiatsu flare slightly, hoping to draw the adjuchas out into the open rather than fight them in a more dangerous location. Renji stood at her black, zanpakuto released and waiting.

There was a harsh roar to their right suddenly, and Renji extended Zabimaru just in time to prevent them from being hit – the first adjuchas had arrived.

It was slightly feline in appearance with grey and dark green markings over its white hide. Three long razor sharp claws adorned each of its front paws and a short, whip like tail flicked behind it.

With a yell, Renji swung his zanpakuto towards it. There was a pause, and then the Hollow jumped the blade, lunging for the wielder. Apparently the Lieutenant was ready for something like that, as he pulled up sharply, slashing Zabimaru's points into the exposed stomach.

The adjuchas snarled and rolled away, eyes glittering with hatred, 'You cannot beat me shinigami!' its voice was gravelly, 'A Captain would have trouble beating an adjuchas,'

Renji smirked, 'Is that so, then why are you bleeding?'

The creature was undeterred, 'I could bleed a whole lot more before being defeated by the likes of you!'

Rangiku was about to add her bit when she sensed another presence coming up behind her.

'Growl, Heineko!' the ash flew behind her to block the deadly punch from the second adjuchas.

Turning, she surveyed the strange looking Hollow, letting Heineko's ash drift around her, 'Who are you?'

The adjuchas, it looked like a slug with overgrown arms, grunted.

'Huh?' she mocked it, 'Cat got your tongue?'

A spark of annoyance glimmered in the black eyes. Rangiku knew that the adjuchas were quite intelligent, so working out that her zanpakuto's name meant 'Ash Cat', wouldn't be too hard.

Without another word, the now serious woman directed the ash towards her opponent.

Toshiro was moving as fast as he could. There was no way that the Lieutenants had received the new report on the adjuchas. The only good thing he could think of right at that moment was that the gillians had been defeated – after all, those Eleventh Division members were a force to be reckoned with – but that didn't ease his concern much at all.

Don't do anything rash, he hoped silently, Don't let your guard down for a second.

'Matsumoto,' Renji's tone was casual, even as he swung his zanpakuto around with deadly accuracy, 'You hurt yet?'

'Don't insult me,' she laughed lightly as the adjuchas before her covered its bulbous eyes, shielding them from the onslaught of ash, 'What about you?'

Renji was about to reply with a negative, when the furious cat-Hollow in front of him locked one of Zabimaru's points between its claws and pulled. The startled Lieutenant only just managed to avoid having his head chopped off by dropping heavily to the ground. When he rose and returned Zabimaru to its usual state, a few drops of blood slid from a light cut on his cheek.

'What were you saying shinigami?' both adjuchas laughed.

Renji wiped his face with his sleeve and grinned at the smaller Hollow, 'I was just about to say that you're dead!'

With a wild laugh, he jumped towards the startled creature, the blades of his zanpakuto digging into the Hollow's side.

Matsumoto couldn't help but sigh as she sent more ash to bombard the slug thing's face.

'Don't underestimate me!' suddenly a huge fist was flying towards her. She used shunpo to dodge and then, taking advantage of the unprotected face, directed Heineko there.

To her surprise, although the ash spun around its head, the adjuchas did nothing to try and stop it. When she pulled back her zanpakuto, the Hollow's face was bleeding and torn but it was smiling crookedly.

'This is the end, shinigami,'

The cat like Hollow leapt towards Renji as the other swung at Matsumoto.

Zabimaru entangled the first adjuchas, and Heineko stopped the blow of the second, but it didn't seem to dampen their opponents' dark triumph.

It was only when the Lieutenants happened to notice something silver arcing towards them, that they realised their mistake.

While they'd been fighting, their confidence had made them focus only on their direct opponents. Consequently, the approach of three more adjuchas class Hollows went completely unnoticed to them.

Rangiku's mouth opened in a silent cry of shock, and Renji's eyes widened impossibly.

A blur of black, white and green shot through their sight and suddenly Captain Hitsugaya was standing at Matsumoto's side, Hyorinmaru blocking the killing strike.

'Captain!' the relief in his Lieutenant's voice was honest.

'You shouldn't have let your guard down!' Toshiro snapped at her, hiding his former concern perfectly, 'Concentrate!'

'Yes sir!' both Lieutenants were embarrassed, but now they were doubly determined to win.

'There are five adjuchas all together,' the white haired captain disengaged his zanpakuto and the Hollow retreated slightly, 'I called for reinforcements and a squad from the Fourth Division,'

No one spoke again, but all of them moved slightly closer together, eyes watching the circling Hollows warily.

In unison, both sides attacked.

Then, a few minutes later, Renji released his bankai and began to use it to both attack the enemy, and defend his comrades.

Slash after slash. Shout after shout. Blood flew into the air on frequent occasions.

The shinigami were tiring, but the adjuchas seemed to remain as strong as they'd started. Toshiro couldn't work out what was taking help so long to arrive.

There was a pained curse, and Toshiro turned in time to see Renji fly through the air, two long, deep gashes up his front, and then slam into a tree with a sickening crack. His bankai vanished and Toshiro's eyes widened, knowing that that was a definite indication of the seriousness of the Lieutenant's injuries.

He was turning to shout at Matsumoto, 'Protect Abarai!'

She turned her head to nod at him and then her eyes darkened with pain as she was impaled by one of the nearest adjuchas' horns. The bull like Hollow tossed her over to land beside Renji, her head hitting the ground with a sickening crack, and then advanced on Toshiro.

He was furious, his reiatsu flaring wildly, and he raised Hyorinmaru, releasing it. Swinging the long blade, the ice dragon formed from the tip and shot towards one of the adjuchas, freezing and killing it instantly. The others were taken aback by such a quick defeat and Toshiro knew that their guard was up now.

'I'll kill you!' he shouted, fury making his voice shake slightly.

He charged at the bull Hollow, moving so fast that it didn't even notice when it was stabbed and subsequently frozen.

Turquoise eyes wide, he slashed at the slug adjuchas, almost cleaving it in too. Something in his mind, the only reasonable part left, said that these weren't strong adjuchas at all, and reasoned that they must only have recently risen from the rank of gillian.

A huge fist aimed for his head, but the captain effortlessly chopped the hand off, jumping to finish the adjuchas off.

Dropping back to the ground, he glared at the two remaining ones – the two cat-like adjuchas.

'That's quite impressive,' Renji's initial opponent spoke, 'But we've been at this level for thousands of years, you have no hope of defeating us,'

The words hardly filtered through into Toshiro's mind, his thoughts so clouded with rage. Blind fury. It had almost killed him twice before, but he couldn't remember that at the moment.

The two adjuchas split up and leapt at the captain from both sides, but he jumped out of the way.

'Maybe there's a better way to win this,' leaping over to stand near the unconscious forms of the Lieutenants, the Hollow smirked, 'Watch them die, shinigami,'

Toshiro looked up and his was about to leap forwards when three claws penetrated his stomach, driving up through his body to emerge from his upper back. His eyes widened in agony as he slid down to rest limply against the blood stained paw.

'No,' the word came out wetly and with little breath behind it.

The adjuchas' laughter filled his roaring ears as he was tossed aside, landing some metres from the Lieutenants.

No, he repeated the thought in his head, unable to speak.

Just before Toshiro's mind slid into blackness, despite the fact that it was summer, he felt a cool wintry breeze ruffle his hair.

Author's Note:

I feel sorry for them . . . I truly do